Showing posts with label Johnstone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Johnstone. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Multi-Tasking vs ADHD




After posting Bill Wall's latest game to this blog (see "Winning With the Jerome Gambit: A Game Full of Lessons"), I ran across the following game with the same opening line. I chuckled as play went from one area of the board to another to another; and I couldn't decide if the players were expert multi-taskers or suffering from inattention...

Johnstone, Michael - Egan, Michael
IECC, 1999

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.Bxf7+ 




5...Kxf7 6.O-O d6 7.Nbd2 h5 8.Nb3 h4 9.c3 



White plans to counter Black's wing aggression with play in the center.

9...Nh5

More consistent would have been 9... h3!?

10.d4 Bb6 11.Bg5 Qd7 12.Bxh4 Nf4 13.dxe5 Qg4 14.Bg3 



14...Nxg2

Black has a piece to burn, but he would have done better to move another attacker closer to the enemy King with 14...Nxe5. White's Bishop on g3 helps hold the defense together.

15.Kxg2 Qh3+

This was Black's idea, but it doesn't produce the attack he had hoped for.

16.Kg1 Rh5 17.exd6 Bg4 18.dxc7 



The hungry White pawn wanders while Black piles up on the Kingside.

18...Kg8 19.Nbd4 Nxd4 20.cxd4 Rf8 21.Qb3+ Kh7



If Black's attack does not succeed, White's extra pawns will win the day. On the other hand, White must defend well, if he wants those pawns to win for him.

22.Ne5

The Knight vacates the hot square f3, but this gives Black a chance to grab the advantage. Safer for White would be 22.Nd2, with a possible continuation being 22...Bxd4 23.Qd3 Bb6 24.Rac1 Rc8 25.e5+ Bf5 26.Qf3 Bxc7 27.Qxb7 Bb6 when Black has captured the dangerous passer at c7, and grabbed one of White's center pawns, but he remains three pawns down, and White has a protected passer at e5.

22...Bxc7

Taking the dangerous pawn is understandable, but Black's chance was to knock out the key to White's defense with 22...Rxe5 23.dxe5 Bf3 which wins the Queen after 24.Qxf3 Rxf3. White would have a Rook and four pawns for his Queen, which is probably not enough.

23.Nxg4 Qxg4 

White maintains his three pawn advantage.

24.Qxb7

White's attention wanders from the Kingside, as he is convinced that he has put an end to Black's attack. Therefore, why not grab a pawn?

24...Bb6

Overlooking the drawing combination 24...Bxg3 25.fxg3 Qe2, when White will be unable to avoid repeated checks and a draw (unless he falls into checkmate). Black, too, has overlooked the Kingside.

From here on, White's pawns advance, he uses his pieces to defend his King, and the full point is obtained.

25.Rad1 Rf6 26.Rd3 Rfh6 27.f3 Qg5


A bit stronger is 27...Qg6 28.Qc8 Rxh2 29.Qf5 Qxf5 30.exf5 Rxb2 31.Rf2 Rb1+ 32.Kg2 Rh5 33.f4 Rxf5 when White's lead would be one (passed) pawn, but it would be sufficient.

28.e5 Rxh2 29.Qe4+ Kh8 30.Qg4 Rh1+

Similar to the note above is the alternative, 30...Qxg4 31.fxg4 Rxb2 32.Rf2 Rb1+ 33.Kg2 Kg8 34.Re2 Kf8 35.d5, which leaves White with two passed center pawns. 

31.Kg2 R1h5 32.Qxg5 Rxg5 33.f4 Rg4 34.d5 Kg8 35.Re1 g5 36.e6 Kf8 37.e7+ Ke8 38.Rc3 Bd8 39.Rc8 gxf4 40.exd8=Q+ Kf7 41.Qd7+ Kg6 42.Rg8+ Kh5 43.Qxg4 checkmate



Saturday, December 27, 2008

Back at me



Sometimes I defend the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) – and sometimes I defend against it.


bushytail - perrypawnpusher
blitz game 4 0 FICS 2008

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5

Although my favorite defense is the French, I have recently been answering 1.e4 with 1...e5, in the hopes that someone might play the evil Jerome Gambit against me...

4.d3 Nf6 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7

Ta - dah! We have now transposed into a "modern" Jerome Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.d3 Nf6 -- of which I have 75 examples in my database. Did I feel pressure to "throw" the game? No way! Especially not against a "modern" variation!

By the way, my opponent was rated about 250 points above me – for whatever that is worth – and so probably felt completely justified in offering me "Jerome Gambit odds."

6.Ng5+

Not a very popular (or successful) choice, although it showed up 5 times in the 2007 ChessWorld.net Jerome Gambit tournament, and more recently in a 2008 one (Sir Osis of the Liver - Blackburne, ChessWorld.net, 2008, 0-1, 33)

An alternative: 6.0-0 d6 7.Nbd2 h5 8.Nb3 h4 9.c3 Nh5 10.d4 Bb6 11.Bg5 Qd7 12.Bxh4 Nf4 13.dxe5 Qg4 14.Bg3 Nxg2 15.Kxg2 Qh3+ 16.Kg1 Rh5 17.exd6 Bg4 18.dxc7 Kg8 19.Nbd4 Nxd4 20.cxd4 Rf8 21.Qb3+ Kh7 22.Ne5 Bxc7 23.Nxg4 Qxg4 24.Qxb7 Bb6 25.Rad1 Rf6 26.Rd3 Rfh6 27.f3 Qg5 28.e5 Rxh2 29.Qe4+ Kh8 30.Qg4 Rh1+ 31.Kg2 R1h5 32.Qxg5 Rxg5 33.f4 Rg4 34.d5 Kg8 35.Re1 g5 36.e6 Kf8 37.e7+ Ke8 38.Rc3 Bd8 39.Rc8 gxf4 40.exd8Q+ Kf7 41.Qd7+ Kg6 42.Rg8+ Kh5 43.Qxg4 checkmate, Johnstone - Egan, IECG email 1999

6...Kg8

6...Kf8 7.c3 d5 8.h3 dxe4 9.Nxe4 Nxe4 10.dxe4 Qf6 11.0-0 Be6 12.Be3 Bxe3 13.fxe3 Qxf1+ 14.Qxf1+ Ke7 15.Nd2 Na5 16.b3 Rhf8 17.Nf3 Rf6 18.Qb5 b6 19.Qxe5 Nc6 20.Qxc7+ Black resigned, tmitchell - islanderfan, net-chess.com 2006

7.Be3 TN

7.c3 d5 8.exd5 Qxd5 9.c4 Qd4 10.0-0 Ng4 11.Qf3 Qd7 12.Re1 h6 13.Ne4 Bb4 14.Nbc3 Nd4 15.Qd1 Qf5 16.f3 Nf6 17.a3 Bd7 18.axb4 Qg6 19.Ng3 Nf5 20.Rxe5 Kh7 21.Nxf5 Bxf5 22.Nd5 Nxd5 23.cxd5 Rhf8 24.d4 Bh3 25.g3 Qf6 26.Bf4 Rf7 27.Re4 b5 28.g4 Qh4 29.Qe2 a6 30.d6 cxd6 31.Bxd6 Raa7 32.g5 Qxg5+ 33.Bg3 h5 34.Kh1 Qg6 35.Rc1 Rad7 36.Rc8 Rxd4 37.Rxd4 Bxc8 38.Rd8 Bb7 39.Rd3 Qg4 40.Kg2 h4 41.Re3 hxg3 42.hxg3 Qxb4 43.Qd3+ g6 44.Re6 Bxf3+ 45.Kg1 Qc5+ 46.Kh2 Qh5+ 47.Kg1 Qh1+ 48.Kf2 Be4+ 49.Ke3 Qf3+ White resigns, plummy - SIRMO, www.chessworld.net 2007

7...Bxe3 8.fxe3 h6 9.Nf3 Kh7 10.0-0 Rf8 11.Nc3 d6


Standard defensive technique against a modern Jerome Gambit variation: castle by hand, develop, exchange pieces when appropriate.

12.Nd5 Nxd5 13.exd5 Ne7 14.e4 Bg4

This move allows White the possibility of 15.Ng5+ hxg5 16.Qxg4, weakening my King position a bit, so it is probably not the most accurate move.

15...Ng6 16.Rf2 Bxf3 17.Rxf3 Rxf3 18.gxf3 Qg5+ 19.Qg2

"Chopping wood" brings me ever closer to a piece-up endgame, but my opponent would have done better here to bust up my pawn structure a bit with 19.Qxg5.

19...Qxg2+ 20.Kxg2 Rf8

Black is clearly winning. He has only one small problem.

21.Rf1 Nf4+ 22.Kf2 g5 23.Ke3 Kg6 24.c4 Kf6 25.b4 Ke7 26.a4 Kd7 27.Rh1 c6 28.Rc1 Ng6 29.h3 Nh4 30.Rf1 Rf4 31.a5 b6 32.dxc6+ Kxc6 33.axb6 axb6 34.b5+

This is weaker than 34.Rf2, but White still has high hopes.

34...Kc5 35.Rf2 Kb4 36.Rf1 Kc3 37.Rf2 Ng6

Good enough, but consistent with the King march was 37...Rxf3+

38.Rf1 Ne7 39.Rc1+ Kb2 40.Rf1 Kc2 41.Rf2+ Kb3 42.Rf1 Ng6 43.Rb1+ Ka2 44.Rf1 Nh4 45.Rf2+ Kb3 46.Rf1 Ng2+ 47.Kf2 Nh4 48.Ke3 Ng2+ 49.Kf2 Nh4 50.Ke3 Ng2+ Draw

Oh, yes, that "small problem": the time control was game in 4 minutes, so at the end, even in a winning position, I was so short of time that I had to force the draw and lose a half-point.